Scenes from Smoke in the Valley chili and brew festival in Seymour,...

Friends Rob Pocius, of Westport, Sam deArmas, of Bridgeport, and Mary Frostick, of Fairfield, from left, toast the day Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013 during the Smoke in the Valley chili and brew festival in Seymour, Conn.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

SEYMOUR -- Outside the security entrance to Smoke in the Valley, a chili and craft beer festival, brew lovers came from all the usual Naugatuck Valley towns, and from far away -- distant remote parts of Connecticut, Florida and even the Czech Republic.

"We saw someone who came from Florida, upstate New York and then this guy from really far away," Adamo said. How far? "Well, he had a passport from the Czech Republic. And all of us were just laughing. We were laughing because it just shows the scope of this craft beer and chili festival is bringing in people from really distant, far-flung places."

For the better part of the afternoon, beer aficionados sampled pale ales, stouts and lagers from 90 craft brewers, including about 30 home brewers. Larry Cass, the owner of the GlenRo Spirit Shoppe in Monroe, the beer sponsor for the festival, estimates that the crowd, which numbered about 3,500, drank "thousands of cases of beer."

Tom Calver, an engineer from Seymour gave high marks to a coffee stout from Hudson Valley Brewery as his favorite of the half dozen or so he sampled in shot glasses.

"It had a very light caramel color and coffee taste that began like a good Irish stout and then ended with this dark coffee kick," Calver said. "It was smooth."

Calver's only criticism of Seymour's "Smoke in the Valley" was that a number of restaurants ran out of chili halfway through the afternoon. Still, Calver said he found many other foods to sample. "Next time we come to this," he said, "we'll just make a point of getting in earlier."

Probably the most tantalizing beer was the summery one Rich Kruszeski, a homebuilder, was holding.

"I'm not a very big beer drinker. A lot of beer tastes bitter to me," Kruszeski said, holding up the pale ale from the Hooker Brewing Company. "It smells like and tastes like carbonated watermelon." To prove his point, he extended the shot glass so someone nearby could take a whiff. "Yeah watermelon. Here it is," he said, holding it up to his lips. "Now, it's gone."

Kim Dulka, the owner of the All-American Valley General Store, a restaurant that features locally grown food from its Red Clover Farm in Seymour, went through more than 30 gallons of homemade chili.

"What makes it great is that it has a hot kicker," Dulka said of her beef chili. "It has a dollop of jabanaro and hot cherry peppers mixed with brown sugar, apple cider and vinegar. It starts out sweet and then it hits you with this hotness. Not super hot. Just enough heat."

Nevertheless, what drew Jennilyn Fallorin, a corporate executive from Yonkers, N.Y., to the All-American Valley Store's booth, was the beer-spiced cupcakes with beer-laced icing and pretzels on top.

"This is just delicious," Fallorin said. "Mmmm. The beer gives it an amazing taste. They're irresistible."